Eternity
by Sydella
Summary: After the final battle against the Vindice, Tsuna pays a visit to Kawahira and learns some interesting things.


Before the humans arrived, everything was peaceful, at least for a while. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years came and went in perfect bliss. I'm sure you've heard the saying "ignorance is bliss"? Yes, I was ignorant. My people and I, we were all ignorant. It simply never occurred to us that life would ever be less than perfect.

Naturally, this would not be a story without an element of tragedy. A problem to solve, an enemy to defeat. Every knight needs a dragon to slay, after all. Unfortunately, I could not save Sepira-or anyone else, for that matter. I had to watch as my people withered and died. They became fodder for the worms in the soil which humans walk upon.

I, however, am still here, clinging to life with the desperation of a man who has lived much too long and seen far too much. Like a leaf pushed around by powerful currents, as Sepira would say. Still holding on because I don't know how to let go.

X

He comes to me one strangely cold summer day, as I knew he would. The lion cub of the Vongola finds out where I live (I recently relocated to another country, but he has always been resourceful) and stands awkwardly in the doorway for a painfully long, drawn-out minute before finally clearing his throat to announce his presence.

"Yes, feel free to enter, Sawada Tsunayoshi." I smile at him over a large bowl of ramen. "You're a long way from home, boy."

He shifts a stack of yellowed newspapers and sits on a rickety old chair. "I flew here. Private jet and all. I wanted to take a regular plane, but the Ninth insisted."

"Ah." I slurp loudly as I eat-after all, I am in the presence of a Japanese person-and carefully set my bowl down. "So you're finally starting to live the life of a mafia boss. No more sharing of economy class cabins with crying babies and obese passengers for you."

"I guess not." He smiles wanly, glancing around the room. "Um, I like your house. It's very…" he flounders, clearly trying to be polite and diplomatic.

"You don't have to mince your words. I know that this place isn't going to be on the cover of an interior design magazine anytime soon." I wipe my mouth and try to recall what day it is; I lost contact with the outside world weeks ago.

He fidgets. "But why? I mean, you have money, don't you?"

Little Tsunayoshi is actually worried for me. I, who still have an arsenal of Mist Flames at my disposal. Old Kawahira, who walked the earth eons ago. It's quite endearing, really. Instead of answering his questions, I stand and walk towards the door he just stepped through.

"Come on." I open it, narrowing my eyes against the sunlight. "Let's go for a walk."

X

I tell him my story. All of it. He listens with furrowed brows and hands clasped behind his back, like a worried young general, and only occasionally stops me to ask a quick question. At several points during the conversation, his mobile phone rings and beeps with notifications from his family members and friends back home. Eventually, he switches it off with an exasperated sigh. "Sorry. I leave Japan for one day and everyone freaks out."

"No matter, it is their way of showing affection for you." I am more envious than I care to admit, and for a moment my thoughts wander to my own people. If there is a life after this one, I can only hope that our paths will cross again.

"Yeah, I guess so." He looks at me intently. "Anyway, you were saying…?"

And the story picks up where it left off.

X

I do not enjoy living amongst humans. Never have, never will.

It's strange, because I look and sound exactly like them. Cut me and I bleed, but appearances are deceiving.

Sepira laughed at me when I said I wanted to live separately from humans. "You won't last a day without human company," she said in her clear, bell-like voice. "Face it, my lord. Humans are the new rulers of this planet. You and I are the last of our kind. You might as well get used to it."

"Don't be ridiculous, Pira." Even I could hear the desperation in my voice. "There has to be another way. I'm sure there is some sort of alternative we haven't found yet. There just has to be!"

She shook her head. I can't quite recall how our argument ended. Perhaps we said nothing else and simply parted ways then and there. The image of a beautiful woman standing silhouetted against the sun, shaking her head at me as the folds of her white cloak flapped in a mild ocean breeze, will forever be seared into my mind.

That is the truth and nothing but the truth, for all I know.

X

I took a wife, as men were wont to do in those days. Immortality tends to miss with one's head, and I craved companionship to stave off loneliness and boredom.

My first wife, Morgana, was as unlike her namesake as could be. She was not an enchantress in any way, shape or form. Her practical and down-to-earth nature is probably why I fell for her in the first place. We shared a simple and quiet life until she died in her sleep at the age of ninety. Gently, uncomplicated and without fuss, into the good night she went.

X

The Arcobaleno are both my greatest creation and worst sin. Generations of rainbow babies perished by my hand, and generations of zombies lived on, festering in their hatred.

("Do you have any regrets?" Tsunayoshi asks quietly.

"Regrets?" I order another bowl of ramen. "No. I have no regrets.")

X

Sepira haunts my dreams from time to time, and she's not the only one. My people creep around the periphery of my vision and whisper to each other about incidents that took place in another world, another time.

"Did you know," a giggling maiden says, "that sometimes we cross over from the Alpha-Omega-Epsilon?"

"I have no idea what you're saying, my dear," I reply. She giggles again and tiptoes away, leaving me to wake up in a cold sweat.

X

The second woman I married was quick-witted and silver-tongued. Her name was Elizabeth, and she hailed from a country filled with women of the same name.

"And what, pray tell," I remember her saying as she stood over an oven which she often used to bake the most heavenly bread, "distinguishes me from all the other Beths and Betsys and Lizzies?"

"Your beauty, of course." I winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Only my beauty? Not my charm or my considerable intellect? For shame!"

We laughed, and the dough obediently became a masterpiece beneath her skillful hands. Church bells rang in the town square, on and on and on like music.

She died two years later. Freak accident at a windmill, the papers said, though I have reason to suspect otherwise.

I didn't remarry for a long time: sixty years, to be precise.

X

("I'm sorry for your losses," Tsunayoshi says, his brown eyes sad.

"Don't be." I pat his head. "I've had enough time to grieve. More than enough time, in fact.")

X

"I'm sorry!" the blue-haired failed Arcobaleno wailed, slumping over the newly cursed body of her blonde lover. "Oh, Colonello."

"Lal, it's okay." He smiled ruefully at her. "You've always said I'm too childish for my own good. Maybe it'll be fun to experience childhood again, eh?"

"Don't joke about this!" she sobbed. "Damn you, Checker Face. Damn you to hell and back. A _thousand_ times back."

I did not feel guilty for doing what had to be done. I still don't.

X

Vongola Primo was, I think, a much more cynical man than the history books make him out to be. He was certainly more cynical than his wide-eyed descendant.

"Why on earth did you create those blasphemous things?" he asked me, golden eyes burning with fury.

"I presume you mean the Vindice." I smiled coldly at him. "I wouldn't go so far as to call them blasphemous. Are we not all creators in one way or another?"

He shook his head emphatically, and for a heart-stopping moment he reminded me of Sepira. "Humans create the arts and sciences, not walking and talking corpses. _You_ are hardly human."

"No," I agreed, my smile widening. He had no idea how right he was. "I'm not."

X

My third marriage was the only one that produced a child: Sachiko, the sun of my life. Somehow we muddled through diapers, homework and crushes until she finally went off to college.

"I'll miss you," I said, holding back tears.

"I'll miss you too." She hugged her mother and kissed my cheek. "Bye! Don't look at me like that, it's not like you'll never see me again. Eat more, okay? You're getting awfully thin and pale."

"Yes, I promise I'll eat more."

And then she was gone. My little girl.

The house was silent for a few hours. The wife went out to visit her parents. Bored, restless and more than a little hungry, I picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. An angry-sounding man answered on the third ring.

"Yeah, this is Dark Palace Ramen. You ready to order or what?"

"Miso flavor, okay? And send a girl this time. I don't want another teenage boy trampling all over my sunflowers."

"Sure. Whatever you say, man."

A charming young lady (with pigtails, no less!) delivered my order. She was sweating profusely and out of breath.

"Here's your miso-flavored ramen, sir…my apologies for the delay…since you're a loyal customer, we're happy to give you a discount…"

"Why, thank you." I glanced at her name tag. "Keep up the good work, Miss I-Pin."

She blushed. "I will, sir."

In hindsight, fate was kind to me that day.

X

Once, I had lunch with a Mafioso whom I shall not name. He was one of the few people who correctly guessed my true nature.

"People have been talking about you, you know," he said conversationally as he carefully and daintily ate a lobster.

"Is that so?" I sighed. "How unfortunate. I've been trying to keep a low profile."

"Mm. Well, all things considered, you've done pretty well so far." He glanced at my plate. "Aren't you going to eat? You can't survive on ramen alone."

"I'm aware of that." I still left my meal untouched. "Tell me, how much longer do you think Cosa Nostra will last?"

He shrugged. "Forever, probably." Something tells me he was only half joking.

I looked away. We were dining at a restaurant situated near a river. As I watched, a rather noisy speedboat chugged across the waters, generating a frothy trail of whitecaps.

"Anyway," the man said calmly, bringing my attention back to him. "I've been meaning to ask you about your past."

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" I wasn't really bothered. "Go on."

"I'm curious. Where do you come from? How do you know so much about Cosa Nostra without being directly involved? What kind of family do you have?" His dark eyes twinkled. "Details, please."

"So demanding." I smirked. "Very well, I'll tell you."

He nodded, looking at me expectantly.

"Well." I took a deep breath, let it out. "I suppose I had parents. Of course, everyone has parents. But I honestly don't remember much about mine…"

X

In a meadow on the outskirts of a small Italian town, I found Superbi Squalo sitting with his long legs tucked under him, gazing at nothing in particular.

" _Buona sera,"_ he greeted me courteously in a cold, clear voice.

"A good evening to you too." I watched him for a few minutes, observing the way curtains of silvery hair shielded his pale young face and how his black uniform clung to his wiry frame.

"Are you all right?" I asked after a moment's pause.

"No, but I will be."

"Tough day at work?"

"You could say that." He glanced up at me, his expression unreadable. "Do you need a ride? We're hundreds of miles from the nearest major city."

"That's very nice of you. I do appreciate it."

We walked in companionable silence until we reached a small black car. Inside, Squalo sat with his hands on the steering wheel for a while, obviously not wanting to hit the road just yet.

"You're not running from something, are you?" I gazed out at the surrounding countryside. The treetops swayed gently and the rustling leaves sounded just like my people, whispering to me in dreams and nightmares and beyond.

Squalo didn't look at me. "We all are, old man. We all are."

X

It is almost midnight by the time Tsunayoshi and I return to my house. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him stealing furtive glances at me, as if he wants to say something but is afraid of upsetting me.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, our little chat has been quite enjoyable, but perhaps it's time for you to go home. I'm sure your family and friends are missing you deeply."

"Yeah…" he puts his hands in his pockets and looks at the floor. "Kawahira-san, will we ever meet again?"

"I don't know, boy."

"Oh." He sighs. "Well, if you need anything, just let me know. Thanks for telling me your story."

"You are most welcome, lion cub."

He turns to leave. "See you around. Oh, wait, before I forget-there's just one last thing I'd like to ask you."

"Go on."

He stares at me with the soulful, innocent gaze of a human child. "What do you think will happen to you after you…you know. I mean, you've been alive for so long."

I look past the boy and in the night, I sense the onslaught of memories. Sepira smiles ever so slightly, small hand tucked in the crook of Vongola Primo's arm, and they huddle together conspiratorially, excluding me from the world they are creating together. A maiden skips down an endless road, calling out to me _Hurry up or you'll miss it, you'll miss the Alpha-Omega-Epsilon_. An assassin in a small black car speaks with chilling finality, and a dark-eyed man leans across a restaurant table with a knowing smile. Morgana warns me not to enter the house before washing my feet clean in a basin of ice-cold water and Elizabeth scowls as she tries to remove a dead rat from our doorstep. Jemima, the third one, is much too young to be a widow. I owe her an apology. Sachiko smooths an imaginary crease from her wedding dress and asks for my opinion, her eyes full of hope. _How do I look, Dad?_

 _You look beautiful. You_ are _beautiful._

Tsunayoshi lingers, and I don't know what he expects me to say. In the end, I can only tell him what I honestly believe to be true, from the bottom of my heart. "We are stardust, my dear boy. No matter who we are, we will all return to the universe from whence we came. We are nothing but stardust."

He opens his mouth, closes it. Then, he simply nods and walks away without another word. When he's out of sight, I step back into my house, the last place I will ever own, and wait.

My time is up.


End file.
